Presser foot for sewing buttonholes



Feb. 21, 1967 M. R. LAIDIG PRESSER FOOTIOR SEWING BUTTONHOLES Filed Feb. 7, 1966 INVENTOR. Manfred R. Laidig United States Patent 3,304,896 PRESSER FOOT FOR SEWING BUTTONHOLES Manfred R. Laidig, Whippany, N .J assignor to The Singer Company, New York, N .Y., a corporation of New Jersey Filed Feb. 7, 1966, Ser. No. 525,769 3 Claims. (Cl. 112-235) This invention relates to presser feet for sewing machines and more particularly to an improved buttonhole sewing presser foot which is so designed that the entire bottom surface of the sole plate of the presser foot will exert equal pressure on material being sewn when the feed dog is passing over irregularities in the work or in the event that the feed dog of the sewing machine is slightly out of level.

A primary object of the present invention is to provide an improved sewing machine presser foot having a sole plate mounted in such a manner that the bottom surface thereof will always exert equal pressure on the material being sewn.

Another object of the invention is to provide an improved sewing machine presser foot having a sole plate which is mounted for universal tilting movement.

With the above and other objects in view, as will hereinafter appear, the invention comprises the devices, combinations and arrangements of parts hereinafter set forth and illustrated in the accompanying drawings of a preferred embodiment of the invention and the advantages attained thereby will be readily understood by those skilled in the art.

FIG. 1 is a fragmentary elevational end view of a sewing machine with the improved presser foot of the presser invention attached to the presser bar of the sewing machine,

FIG. 2 is an enlarged fragmentary front elevational view as seen in the direction of the arrows 2-2 of FIG. 1,

FIG. 3 is a top plan view of the presser foot per se, and

FIG. 4 is an exploded perspective view of the presser foot shown in FIGS. 1 through 3.

FIGS. 1 through 4 of the drawings show a sewing machine 16, to which the presser foot is applied, and which comprises, among other elements, an overhanging bracket arm equipped with a head 18, a conventional needle bar 22, a needle 23, a presser bar 24 and a conve'ntional feed dog 26, the needle bar 22 and the presser bar 24 being journaled in the bracket arm head 18. The lower end of the presser bar 24 is slabbed, as at 27, and is provided with a threaded hole 29 into which is screwed a knurled presser bar holding screw 32. The slabbed end 27 of the presser bar 24 and the screw 32 cooperate to secure a shank 36 of a presser foot 37 to the lower end of the bar 24.

The shank 36 comprises an upper U-shaped portion having a flat 38, a rim 39 and two tines 40 and 41, the tines and a portion of the fiat 38 bounding a notch 42 for accommodating the screw 32. The lower portion of the fiat 38 is formed integral with the upper end of a depending otfset arm 43 and one side of the lower end of the arm 43 is formed integral with a side of an upstanding plate 44 which plate is provided with apertures or holes 46 and 47, the hole 46 being directly above the hole 47.

The lower hole 47 accommodates the shank of a headed pivot rivet 48, the upper hole 46 accommodates the shank of a headed tilt stop rivet 49 and the lower rivet 48 acts as the fulcrum for a wall 51 of a substantially U-shaped yoke 52, opposite edges of the wall 51 being formed integral with a pair of depending parallel arms 53 and 54. The lower ends of the arms 53 and 54 are apertured, as at 55, to accommodate a pair of substantially horizontally disposed aligned roll pins or pintles 56-56. The shank of the rivet 49, in addition to being held in'the hole 46, passes through an enlarged hole 58 formed in the wall 51, the hole 58 having a diameter that is approximately twice as great as the diameter of the shank of the rivet 49. Also the shank of the rivet 48, in addition to being held in the hole 47, passes through a hole 59 formed in the wall 51.

As previously indicated, the rivet 48 acts as the fulcrum for the wall 51 and thus as the fulcrum for the yoke 52. Because the hole 58 is larger than the shank of the rivet 49, these parts act to permit a limited amount of turning of the wall 51 and thus the yoke 52 about the rivet 48. V

The pintles 56-56 in addition to passing through theholes 5555 in the lower ends of the arms 53 and 54, pass through holes 6060 formed in a pair of upstanding walls 61 and 62 formed on opposite sides of a sole plate 63, the walls 61 and 62 being joined by a bottom wall 64. The front portion of the wall 64 is formed with an elongated needle accommodating hole 66 a front portion of which is in communication with a channel 67 which in turn is in communication with the apex of an open ended V-shaped notch 68. Rear portions of the walls 61 and 62 are formed with upstanding pointed, V-shaped lugs 71 and 72. The points of the lugs 71 and 72 are so positioned as to engage the front surface of the wall 51 when the sole plate 63 pivots about the pintles 56-56 and thus the lugs 71 and 72 limit the tilting of the sole plate 63. The rear portion of the sole plate 63 extends upwardly to form an upwardly inclined heel 76 and the front portion of the sole plate 63 also extends upwardly to form upwardly inclined bifurcated toes 77-77. The bottom surface 79 of the bottom wall 64 is formed with a pair of parallel slots 81 and 82.

In operation, the bottom surface 79 of the sole plate will always exert equal pressure on the material being sewn regardless of whether the sole plate 63 is passing over irregularities in the work or whether the upper surface of the feed dog 26 of the sewing machine is level or not. For example, if the sole plate 63 should pass over purl stitches or a gimp corded portion. of a buttonhole or if the upper surface of the feed dog 26 should be slightly tilted, the sole plate 63 will pivot about the pivotrivet 48 and about the pintles 56-56 to follow the irregularities of the work and any slanting of the feed dog. In other words, the sole plate 63 will tilt in a uni versal manner to follow every tilting movement of the upper surface of the feed dog 26 and to compensate for all irregularities which occur in the work.

Having thus set forth the nature of the invention, What is claimed herein is:

1. A sewing machine presser foot comprising a shank member adapted to be connected to the presser bar of a sewing machine, an apertured wall formed as part of said shank member, a U-shaped yoke, an apertured wall formed as part of said yoke, a pivot-rivet passing through apertures in both of said walls, a tilt stop rivet passing through apertures in both of said walls, one of the apertures through which said tilt stop rivet passes being larger in diameter than the diameter of said tilt stop rivet and thereby permitting said yoke to have limited tilting movement with respect to said shank, a pair of pintles carried on said yoke, and a sole plate mounted for see-saw motion on said pintles.

2. A presser foot constructed in accordance with claim 1 and in which the tilt stop rivet and the pivot-rivet are positioned one above the other.

3. A sewing machine presser foot comprising a shank member adapted to be connected to the presser bar of a sewing machine, an apertured wall formed as part of said shank member, a U-shaped yoke, an apertured wall formed as part of said yoke, a pivot-rivet passing through apertures in both of said walls, a tilt stop rivet passing through apertures in both of said walls, one of the apertures through which said tilt stop rivet passes being larger in diameter than the diameter of said tilt stop rivet and thereby permitting said yoke to have limited tilting movement With respect to said shank, a pair of pintles carried on said yoke, a sole plate mounted for see-saw motion on said pintles, and a pair of upstanding lugs formed as part of said sole plate and adapted to engage the Wall ment of said sole plate about said pintles with respect to said shank member.

References Cited by the Examiner UNITED of said shank member thereby limiting the tilting move- 10 PATRICK D. LAWSON, Primary Examiner. 

1. A SEWING MACHINE PRESSER FOOT COMPRISING A SHANK MEMBER ADAPTED TO BE CONNECTED TO THE PRESSER BAR OF A SEWING MACHINE, AN APERTURED WALL FORMED AS PART OF SAID SHANK MEMBER, A U-SHAPED YOKE, AN APERTURED WALL FORMED AS PART OF SAID YOKE, A PIVOT-RIVET PASSING THROUGH APERTURES IN BOTH OF SAID WALLS, A TILT STOP RIVET PASSING THROUGH APERTURES IN BOTH OF SAID WALLS, ONE OF THE APERTURES THROUGH WHICH SAID TILT STOP RIVET PASSES BEING LARGER IN DIAMETER THAN THE DIAMETER OF SAID TILT STOP RIVET AND THEREBY PERMITTING SAID YOKE TO HAVE LIMITED TILTING MOVEMENT WITH RESPECT TO SAID SHANK, A PAIR OF PINTLES CARRIED ON SAID YOKE, AND A SOLE PLATE MOUNTED FOR SEE-SAW MOTION ON SAID PINTLES. 